Jun. 3, 2012 - Carter Conlon - Bring My Soul Out of Prison

good morning time for church Deb I have a special prayer on my heart this morning when Jesus stood up in the in the synagogue there was brought there in the book of the prophet Isaiah and then he said these words the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering a sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised I have a prayer in my heart that God do all of these things this morning that on a specific topic that he's given me to speak on on this church congregation this morning from Psalm 142 please if you can go there Psalm 142 the title of my message this morning is bring my soul out of prison bring my soul out of prison a father Lord God I can't deliver this with any power unless you choose to empower it there's nothing I can say here that will bring about any kind of victory unless you give it Lord you have to empower me you have to enable me you have to enable us as a congregation to hear this you have to give us the desire for this and Lord you've got to do it because it can't be done there's nothing in us it can do this we can give it our best effort and fall short of the glory that you would have in your church and your father I come not in a position of strength but in weakness I don't come with any great confidence in myself but I have confidence in you Lord I have confidence in your word I have confidence in the thoughts that you put upon my heart give us the grace to hear this Lord Jesus Christ open prison doors and set us free or those that have been bruised and wounded those who don't see a way into this that you're that's true that you're going to speak about those who feel that they'll never be free I pray God Almighty that you do a miracle today do the miraculous Lord I ask you for a supernatural work in this church this morning or I know this can't be done by any goodwill of man nothing would would be done that lasts it has to be a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit and Lord I yield to this I yield my body to it Oh God in this church to it and I ask you Lord Jesus Christ to do this work so profoundly so deeply Lord that we would be stunned and amazed in the days ahead that what you have done that there could be nobody pointing in any direction but you there were only one testimony Jesus has done this and father I thank you for it with all my heart today in your precious name Amen Psalm 142 bring my soul out of prison verse 1 I cried unto the Lord with my voice with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication I poured out my complaint before him I showed him before him my trouble when my spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path in the way wherein I have walked they had privily latest snare for me I looked on my right hand and beheld there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul I cried unto the old Lord I said thou art my refuge in my portion in the land of the living attend unto my cry for I am brought very low delivered me from my persecutors for they're stronger than I bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name the righteous shall compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me now this is a song this is a testimony of someone anointed by God King David of Israel he was anointed for the purpose of bringing honor to God's name and gladness and security to the people of God yet partway into his journey he finds himself in a place that is very familiar to some of us here today verses 1 & 2 he said I cried with my voice I made supplication I poured out my complaint before him and I showed him my trouble there's a specific prayer that I think many people here have been praying in this local church body and here's the question if I am a part of what is your testimony on the earth if this indeed is your body if this is if this church or the church is your body and it is my family my new family on the earth if being one with these people is supposed to bring fulfillment into my life and glory to your name then why do I still feel so alone why can't I integrate why can't I experience the love the security and the joy that is supposed to be here we sing about it we talk about it we read about it it seems to be everywhere and for many others but why am i on the outside looking in why can't I bond with people what is it about me that I'm sitting in the crowd and verse 4 he said I looked on my right hand and behold there's no man that would know me and refuge failed me no one seemingly cared for my soul I'm sitting in a crowd yet I can't seem to form any kind of meaningful friendship with anyone there's 8,000 people attend this church and there are some people in here that's exactly the cry of your heart why am I still alone what can't I fit in why can't I integrate what is it what will set me free why do I feel so lonely verse 6 he said I'm brought very low deliver me from my persecutors 4 they're stronger than I am there are voices and there they're stronger than my reasonings and they're telling me that I'll never fit in there's something wrong with me people don't like me I might as well just give up never fit in maybe it works for other people but it seems to be a lost cause for me anybody here ever felt that way in church verse seven he says bring my soul out of prison that I might praise thy name o God help me God help me what is it about this generation that it seems to be so hard to bond one with another it's so hard to trust now there are many reasons why people feel that way today now this is a church of over 100 different nationalities that in itself is an integration nightmare apart from the Spirit of Almighty God God had an idea in this heart the statisticians say it can't be done you cannot even bring two cultures together and have harmony let alone over 100 in one church body there are just too many differences the statisticians say no you have to build the churches around typical race the typical socio-economic conditions you have to target you have to move in two different strategies of society the Lord I think the Lord just said hogwash to the whole thing I'm going to bring together a church of a hundred nations and do a miracle when people say it can't be done number one you can't statisticians told pastor David Wilkerson you can't form a church in the middle of Times Square it will never work well here we are the Lord said it's going to take a specific kind of skilled leadership to guide these people into this form of integration so god looked down from heaven years ago because he knew this church would be here and he saw an angry fearful whiskey-drinking police officer that was afraid to crowd said ok that would be a good senior pastor and then he he saw haitian-american throwing his parents furniture all over his live their living room and said well though that would make a great youth leader and then he saw an african-american homeless man living in Central Park and sleeping on the trains and he said now that would be a an incredible Bible teacher then he took an 87 year old man who lives four hours from the church and said night would be a great voice for passion and righteousness in the church and you do a great job leading the seniors in the church and they said to top it all off and to add a whole other dimension to this I'm going to put a woman on the platform who's got a greater anointing than all of them put together if this church were a nightmare then God just added to it immeasurably and put a leadership over that in the natural is doomed to failure except that God's Spirit and his ways are not our ways now many many people here today you're in a new culture and that in itself can be hard to adjust to because of the unfamiliarity of it all you know various cultures throughout the world have different meanings many people don't fully understand this yet that's why the integration of 100 different nations can be so difficult I contact means different things in different societies and one part of the world I contact means disrespect in another part of the world like contact means honesty that's America looked me in the eye son and so we're out in the lobby trying to talk to somebody from from a typical Asian culture who thinks it's disrespectful to look you in the eye and you're trying to like this trying to have a conversation you walk away saying what is wrong with that person they won't look me in the eye and the other person is walking wasting while that was incredibly dishonouring that person just kept staring at me the whole time we were talking how about personal space it's different in different parts of the world like typical North America we have about a two and a half to three foot no-fly zone you know in our lives all around us like you're not allowed in the circle I mean talk to me find it you know my wife is allowed there and my grandchildren are allowed there and maybe a few other people but the general population just just don't get any closer than my three foot circle but what about East East Indian culture where the the generally accepted social distance is six inches and so you go out to the lobby after a service and you want to be friendly to people and you start talking to somebody who's who's from an East Indian background and a person just walks right up into your face like that and starts talking to you you can't even hear what they're saying because you're just exploding inside saying what is this person doing so close to my face and so you back up and the other priests Indian guy says well I just want to be intimate with this person so he steps forward and you back up he steps forward and it looks like you're doing a dance around the rotunda how about just common understandings and different cultures of respect for example in traditional Japanese culture if you ask a person to question and what they will do is pause for 15 seconds or so to to to let you know that I respect you as a person I respect what you've just asked me and I'm giving very thoughtful consideration so you walk up to a traditional Japanese person in there and the lobby after the service and say did you enjoy the service today the next thing you know they're standing there and they close their eyes they're standing before you and if you're like I am you lean in it and you say it louder did you enjoy the service today then we have the barrier of voice intonation their various voice intonation that are culturally learned throughout the world in America for example we have a low pitch drop at the end of our sentences just like I just did right there if you were to graph my voice if I'm in a friendly mood at the end of every sentence would be what's called a low pitch drop a low pitch drop at the end of my sentence and so I would say to you if I were an usher say in Times Square Church I would say good to see you come in sit down it's a low pitch drop well what about other cultures for example India that don't have a little pitch drop they've not learned to speak culturally the way we do so it's just good to zero come in sit down now to our ear that's the way it sounds but and a person is wondering why why is everybody so offended by me I'm just being polite and you understand that there's there's in two nations of the voice that are different in different cultures now some cultures now this is strictly advice for those who are born and bred in New York City when you say I hope to see you next week they really think you mean it and so you come to church next week and there's brother-sister zone so in the lobby waiting for you following you down the aisle to your seat because you said I'll look forward to seeing you next week and having fellowship with you and they thought you really meant it so be careful what you say now I'm just giving you a really quick overview of all of the cultural faux pause that go on when you have a hundred nations meeting together that show you and I that without Christ it's impossible without Christ there never will be a United Nations without Christ we never will be able to break the barriers and and of course you're coming into a church like this if you are a little bit insecure in in the first place it makes it even worse to try to integrate to try to make a friend to try to get to know people because you're operating within a certain cultural framework and cueing and miss cueing constantly in your conversations now of course there are other people here that have a hard time to be part of the church bodied because you've been betrayed you've been abandoned you've been abused and it's so hard to trust again because to trust is to be vulnerable and to be vulnerable means you open yourself up you're letting people in into that inner proximity as it is and you're letting people get close to you who could hurt you again and I wish I could tell you that that would never happen again but unfortunately that's not true it can happen even in the Church of Jesus Christ and there's even others just like I used to be who are just with crowds and awkward with people and you're in a crowd but you feel like you're not of the crowd you you want intimacy and fellowship but you're not quite sure how to do this I remember when I see unchristian we'd go to church pastor Teresa died and people walk up to me and say I love you brother and I'd say uh-huh and that was so awkward with that it was like I've never had another man told me he loved me and it was awkward for me I have to be really honest with you and pastor Tracy used to say to me why don't you why don't you tell them I love you back and I said because I don't love them like a minute I love you I love my kids I love my mother but I don't I don't I don't I'm not I'm not gonna say it I don't mean it and it's hard you know I can say it now but it was so hard to break that barrier of what is accepted what's not accepted and and how we're supposed to interrelate with people and how we shouldn't and it was a very difficult moment how do we break through to the satisfying experience that Christ says clearly being part of his church should be now he says it in John chapter 17 I want you to read it with me please John chapter 17 beginning at verse 21 now Jesus makes it clear that being part of the church body should be a deeply satisfying experience spiritually speaking which should ultimately bring glory to God in the earth it should be so satisfying so fulfilling that people look at the Church of Jesus Christ and technically say only God could bring about this kind of love and unity among the people look at verse 20 Jesus said neither pray I for these alone that's John 17:20 but for them which also shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me that as you and I jesus said are as father as you and I are interrelated we're one were inseparable we speak with one voice we beat with one heart as it is that they may be one in us and that oneness in the body of Christ will be an irrefutable testimony to the world of the reality of God you see it's not supposed to be just a casual coming together it's not supposed to be just a hi how are you on Sunday morning there's something that God has for you and God has for me as part of his church his body on this earth that to be a living testimony with of the reality of God and if what you have and what I have don't amount to that then we have to have the courage as David prayed God take me out of the prison that I'm in I feel like there's four walls around me I feel like that I'm behind bars I feel like that there's something so much deeper for me as part of the body of Jesus Christ that I'm not experiencing my fellowship in the church is not a testimony of the reality of God for I could get along with people in the in a secular club as well as I do with the people in the church the Lord you got to take me deeper and verse 22 jesus said and the glory which you gave me I have given them the glory means the ability technically the weightiness of God the ability to perform this he said the glory which you gave me I've given them for this reason that they may be one even as we them Jesus said the ability to be one as we are one go back one verse for the purpose that the world may believe that Jesus Christ has been sent to it I and then verse 23 and down me that they may be made perfect in one that the world may know that thou sent me and has loved them as thou hast loved me that they all may be one so how do we do this Hebrews 12 3 says consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest you be wearied and faint in your minds consider Jesus who had to press through himself for this fellowship it didn't it didn't just come naturally and there were people all around him that were making promises they weren't going to fulfill there were people who said they loved him were going to flee from him and he had this contradiction in a sense all around him but in his heart he knew that the father had sent him to gather a church and the scripture tells us though he was alone in Gethsemane and abandoned his hour of need remember David said in verse four he said I looked at my right hand and no man was there that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul yet he pressed on because what was to come was worth it and folks there's a measure of fellowship that God has for you and I that we're going to have to press on to achieve it we're gonna have to press through our fears we're going to have to press through the failings of other people we're gonna have to press through misunderstandings we're going to have to press through our own inadequacies and our own struggles and trials because the end result is worth it Hebrews 12:2 says who for the joy that was set before him went to the cross the joy of fellowship with you and I both now in time and forever for the joy that was set before him for the joy that's supposed to be evident in the body of Christ for the joy that should be known when people see you and I walking down the street together even under normal circumstances there should be something in the in the passerby that says wow there's something there's a bond they're not like the world gives the world promises bonds but they're all conditional and some of them are quite perverted but there's something pure here there's something right here when they hear your conversation when they see you and I interacting together there should be something in that fellowship that's worth pressing through to have it I'm not willing to sit in isolation in the body of Christ and neither should you be we should be willing to press through press through all the struggles the trials considering Christ for the joy endured what he had to endure that he might have fellowship with you and I today if Jesus Christ broke through for us then the question is how do I break through the barriers that want to keep me out of this joy as part of his church now go to Acts chapter 4 please with me in this particular chapter of Scripture in chapter 4 the disciples were up against her threatening that wanted to take their testimony away and so they went to prayer in Ex chapter 4 and verse 29 he says they said now Lord behold their threatenings and grant to thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word in other words God Almighty theirs there are voices that want to threaten to keep me isolated they're telling me that I'll never break through into the beauty as it is a fellowship in the body of Jesus Christ I'll never know love the way God wants me to know it for other people while I'm on this earth they are threatening me they're threatening the testimony of Christ in my life but o God give me the boldness to speak first give me the boldness to reach out and in verse 30 they said by stretching forth your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done in the name of thy Holy Child Jesus God Almighty stretch out your hand through me to bring healing to any division any breach any misunderstanding any person who's out there an alone God don't let me walk by even if I'm lonely myself don't let me walk by another lonely person without doing something without saying something without reaching out without being part of the solution to whatever the dilemma in that particular life might be and God give me the boldness to speak give me the boldness to say something and mean it give me the boldness to be the first one out of the gate as it is or out of the prison-house to say I noticed I've seen you around here before where are you from engage in a conversation would you would you like to go out and just have coffee together sit down talk and if that person has a need stretch up to your hand and let the hand of God reach out through you to do signs and wonders they said in the name of thy Holy Child Jesus to designs to do things God that only can be done by the Spirit of God they can't be done any other way it's not by human reasoning it's not by human might or power but Oh God there are certain things that can only be done through the tender touch of Christ in the life of somebody who cares and when they had prayed the scripture says the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the Word of God with boldness they were shaken and if folks you and I can remember Paul and Silas they were in prison and at midnight it says they began to praise God and I don't know exactly what those prayers were but I do know it caused the shaking and it caused not only their own bands to fall off but it caused the prison doors of people who had lost hard and lost hope all around them prison doors started to open and even an old filthy Philippian jailer dirty in mind and spirit evil in practice no doubt was set free from his prison even though the bars weren't evident by the tender touch of Paul's hands and silas's hands washing this the filth away that had become part of his life going to his house speaking to his children speaking to his family seeing the glory of God come in that house because they were not afraid to reach out not afraid to go where people were gathering who had given their lives to Jesus Christ and when they prayed the place was shaken I'm not satisfied and neither should you be until there's a bond of love in this house that Outsiders come in and say only Jesus could have done this there's no other way this could happen oh yes we have a great measure of this unity in our midst don't misunderstand me but there should never be a lonely person here there's should not be somebody who walks in here week after week after week into the surgeon walks out alone with that thought in their heart will I ever be free will ever break into fellowship that simply should not be in this house there should be a care and a compassion one for another that staggers the imagination of those who live outside the kingdom of God it should be genuine it should be holy ghost' breathed it should have a tenderness it should have a power behind it that does not come from human effort it comes from the power of God being manifested through our lives in verse 32 said and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul and neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common that's an incredible thing here they are they're praying and it's a simple prayer they said God break us break us out of the box of our limitations and give us an enablement to be able to reach out that's what it was it was about human need it was about not drawing back because of fear and God stretched out your hand through us and bring healing the place was shaken and the first fruit of that prayer is a divine compassion that suddenly released among the people its sovereign it's supernatural we can't ever have a program of compassion it simply doesn't work it's something God did in these people they didn't they didn't have a program it just said suddenly the multitude of them were of one heart and one salt there's a sudden releasing of things that we hold to ourselves as if our lives depended on these things and there's a sudden caring and compassion for the whole church body amazing as you see a divine compassion moved together with divine enablement and it says in verse 33 that great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all they were given a divine enablement to bond together it was the three of which they had never known before great power and great grace the people would look and say there's another band at work here there's another voice at work here there's another life source at work because these are just ordinary people limited by the very limitations of all of society but yet something else had come into them some kind of a new heart some kind of a new mind and the new spirit was upon them you know last Tuesday I was uh I was walking home after church and I happened to be walking behind two ladies from the choir in this church and I watched them for a while they were arm in arm under one umbrella laughing and talking and having an accrediting at this I would say this is what an incredible thing for two people who might not really fully know each other apart from the church atmosphere having so bonded together and I know one of the ladies testimonies and it's a miracle this lady's living for God today all that she's had to go through but yet I see a heart that was open to another person in the body of Christ and here they are arm and arm under one umbrella laughing and talking and having just a great old time it's the envy of everybody in New York City who walks down the street angry frustrated folks we have an opportunity to be a testimony in our generation that is so deep it's not what we say it's not the tracts that we give out it's who we are in Christ how we have learned to interrelate one with another in the body of Christ we have an opportunity to be a testimony you you couldn't you couldn't walk anywhere near those two ladies and not have a sense that the hand of God is on this how did they ever these your initial thought if you didn't know them is that they have to be sisters that are actually getting along there's there's there could be no other reason for this kind of fellowship and then we go down to the corner and there's always people on the corner of 51st and 8th who just can't say goodbye you know there some are going down into the subway some are going across down they're going to continue down 8 some are going over to Howard Johnson's and to get their car but they just can't say goodbye and folks I love that I love it when I see that in the body of Christ this bond which should be in all of us now you could be the master of your own misfortune if all you do is wait for the altar call so you can just run out the back door then you're just offering your own misfortune the proverb says whoever would have a friend must show himself friendly and so when we say take time to get to know somebody I really mean it not just take a hand and just look look at the first opportunity to get away from the person to run out the door it's been great meeting you but to actually mean it these these are people here in this church of a hundred nations that you and I are going to know forever we're going to know each other for all of eternity forever forever why don't we let that bond why don't we let that bond be formed in us in the way that Christ would have it to be formed David said it this way bring my soul out of prison then I may praise thy name bring me out of this place that David said though I'm surrounded by people on my left and on my right I'm God I can't find any comfort here I can't find anybody that really is even wanting to take the time to understand what's going on in my life I I i can't find refuge here and that's not the way it's meant to be in the Church of Jesus Christ bring my soul out of prison he said that I may praise your name God bring me out of this box that the enemy and my own culture and circumstance has me in and break the sides out of this thing Oh God and let me love people and let God open my heart to let other people love me Jesus you've got to do this and David said the righteous will compass me about for you we'll deal bountifully with me David said I I foresee a day when friends will be on all sides I foresee a day of fellowship I foresee a day of joy I foresee a day of caring and compassion in the in this experience that God has given me and this calling is put on my life I foresee something of God with the righteous around me with fellowship and what he foresaw was just ahead of him he didn't realize that mighty men mighty women of God were about to be born into the kingdom of God God was going to give him fellowship companionship yesterday pain once in a while with it but it was not going to be taken away from him and I thank God that you and I in this generation have an opportunity to break out of every prison all the walls the devil has put around us because God is Deb was discharged in Time Square for a divine purpose for a reason it's got to go deeper folks it has to go deeper than just a hundred different nationalities on the role this church it has to go deeper it has to be something that lives among us a testimony that's alive a genuine care and compassion in this church while the whole world is fragmenting around social status and race and culture there's a body that's sovereignly coming together by the power of Almighty God and I don't know about you but I'm not willing to be on the outside of this looking in I want to be right smack in the middle of it all and say Lord whatever walls are in my life break them down whatever happened to me that causes me not to be able to bond break it down whatever makes me want to preserve myself and from being hurt again break it down whatever is in me that causes meat only to be comfortable with people that look like me and act like me and talk like me break it down Oh God break it down Oh God bring my soul out of this prison and surround me with the righteous you said Jesus that this testimony of love and unity in the body would be a declaration in my generation of the reality of God and so I'm not willing to settle with just church attendance I'm not willing to settle for just hi how are you see you next week I want to go deeper and farther than all of this because that's what Christ has for me hallelujah to the lamb of God hallelujah to the lamb of God we need a miracle to see this happening can only come from the power of God that's why Jesus said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach healings to the brokenhearted deliverance to the captives recovering a sight to the blind to set free those that have been bruised it's all about a body folks it's about a church on the earth it's about a people coming together in a bond of love and unity with God and with one another that is a testimony that cannot be denied in the earth hallelujah to the lamb of God glory glory glory to the lamb of God glory to the lamb of God glory hallelujah bring my soul out of prison and God answered David's cry and brought him out and gave him a friend called Jonathan and others he brought him out he brought him out and he'll bring you out you have to want to get up and you have to want to get out and you have to let the power of God come upon you and say Lord shake the place where I am and put a compassion in my heart and give me the strength to speak first and not stand in the lobby waiting for everybody to approach me give me the strength to speak first give me the strength to walk up to somebody and engage in the conversation give me the strength to reach out not be afraid if a person has a need not be afraid to be willing to spend some time just letting them cry on my shoulder just letting them talk about their kids just praying with them about their family situation God helped me to not keep everything at a casual level in the body of Christ there's got to be something deeper than that and as they prayed the place was shaken and a sudden compassion comes on them a sudden releasing a very a sudden joy of being part of the body of Jesus Christ we we have lived short in many cases of what God has for us it's there the Pearl is there but you have to want it folks you and I have to want it now if you're if you're if you're satisfied with just that cool church attendance if you're satisfied with the casual not in a handshake then that's what you're going to get but if you're not satisfied what you're going to get is a prison door is going to open where you are is going to be shaking a supernatural touch of God is going to come on your life and you're going to find yourself in a commitment to a people called the Church of Jesus Christ that you never believed was possible in your entire life the glory of God will be at the center of it the power of God to perform this will be at the very center of it hallelujah to the lamb of God thank you Jesus thank you Jesus bring my soul out of prison that's my altar call today for people to just say God I want I hear this and I want this I want a depth of friendship and fellowship in the body of Christ that you offer I see it in the scriptures you said it with the with your own mouth Jesus and I want this I wanted with all my heart I don't want to be on the outside looking in all of my days and you have to have the courage to get up and go forward and say Lord speak through me heal through me and love through me it's that simple if that's the cry of your heart we're going to stand and we're going to worship for a few moments and as we do I'm going to ask those in the main sanctuary just to meet me please and one another at this altar you're going to meet other people just like yourself we're looking to break out of the box and make a friend it's that simple looking to get out of the confines of of culture and experience to be able to learn to love other people of other races and other places folks as we stand would you just slip out and come to the altar god bless you just make your way here please if you would those that the Holy Spirit is speaking to as we worship the balcony good either exit if you will in the annex you could step between the screens and roxbury as well praise God bring my soul God bring it out of prison hallelujah you know sometimes you you see somebody in the store and they pick up something that's of incalculable value and you can't help but shudder as they hold it in their hands and you wonder do they understand what they've got and I wonder do we really understand what God has done here do we really get the fact that this is one of the few congregations in the world today with this many people together of different races and backgrounds and hopes you really understand so that the thing is not to put it back on the shelf but to handle it tenderly and to recognize the value of what God has given us and to look at this altar today and hear here's a few hundred people that are trying to break out of the box they want to connect with somebody in the body of Christ and they want this to be a meaningful experience being part of the Church of Jesus Christ and to the rest of us still in our seats we're not going to let them down folks we're not going to let these people down in the days ahead some folks are just shy it's hard it's you know for those who are extroverted it's hard to understand how some people are so shy and it's just it's it's it's almost terrifying to reach out and initiate a conversation but these folks at this altar today are willing to at least take the step in that direction and be the first to speak don't be quick to write it off when it happens you know some people it takes forever to get a sentence out and those of us who are used to speaking can just say yeah that's great thanks and just move away and not realize the sacrifice that that is it's important to take time and listen and cherish those moments Christ has given us a very very precious possession in this house praise God and you thought you were the only one that felt the way you do you know the devil is lying to you and saying you're the only one you just don't fit in but there's a lot more but we're going to break this we're going to we're going to bust this prison house hallelujah I'm going to ask pastor Patrick to come and grab a microphone if you will and going to lead us in prayer that all these barriers be broken that we be given the empowerment to care one for another and when we're done praying I'm going to say to you turn and make a friend and I really mean it this time I really mean it not just a casual I hope to see you again sometime but how long just a conversation how long you been here folks does because the curtain comes down you don't have to run out there's no rush there's no rush they'll all be out there when you get there and all of their hostility and everything else so enjoy it while you can here in the house of the Lord pastor Patrick love you God faster I love you too and I mean that now as I was listening to him share his story in the very beginning and his experience I was the same way you know I would never be able to say that but I can say genuinely today because of what God has done and I'm normally I'm normally an introvert I'm not an extrovert but God has given grace you know to do what I've called to do and I know with the word we've heard today the marching orders that we've received as this army that God has raised up in this particular place at this particular time His grace is going to see us through amen His grace is going to see us through the scripture says he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it it's something as we've heard supernatural that God does he carries us and he enables us to be what we could never be to do what we could never do to go where we could never go in our own strength amen let's lift our hands to him and my hands are lifted as well as yours to God and Lord we do thank you today for this incredible work that you are doing in this generation Lord this work that is a sovereign work Lord it's a work of your spirit in raising up your church your bride your people Lord as your body in this last hour time to be a light to be a testimony Lord to be a family a celestial family Lord in the midst of such darkness around us in the midst of such hospital Lord hostility you're raising up a testimony you're raising up a testimony to be salt and light and Lord even as we heard last week God we just thank you for your word today Lord we believe the report of the Lord today we believe Lord the report of the Lord we believe that we are healed we believe that we are free we believe o God that you call us to make a difference God we reveal ourselves to you we surrender ourselves to you this morning and we ask o God that you would bring down every wall your word says that you are our peace that has broken down air three wall Ghadir we thank you for that word today we believe it Oh God and Lord now we're asking for the Grace and believing you not only asking but believing you for the grace Lord to walk Lord and to do what you've called us to do and to be whom you've called us to be God we thank you for this Lord we're believing that you will show us open doors Lord and not only open doors and show us open doors and help us to see those open doors but God you're gonna give us the grace to walk through those open doors locked Lord to make a difference Lord to reach out Lord even out are out of our comfort zones Lord to be friendly and Lord to make friends gods thank you for this wonderful family you've given us God thank you for the love that you've bestowed upon us and Lord for the body and the unity Lord that you're establishing in this place lording in this generation Lord to the glory of your name now god we thank you now help us Lord we thank you that you're going to help us Lord Jesus not to see men like trees walking but to see everything the way you see it God we thank you and we bless you in advance Lord in the glory of your name god we rejoice today and we thank you that the devil is defeated and that our God is exalted and that every stronghold of the enemy is broken in the mighty name of Jesus God we give you glory hallelujah let's give him glory today halleluyah halleluyah halleluyah and folks you know sometimes you don't feel anything but I'm going to tell you something when I tell the young people on Friday night there's a difference between faking it cuz a lot of the young people don't want to fake it so they don't praise God and they don't give the Lord thanks because they don't feel it see but there's a difference between faking it and faith in it when you face it you can worship God you can praise God whether you feel like it or not because you know who he is and what he is promised to you amen the Lord bless you hallelujah hallelujah now turn and make a friend take time we're not even going to sing we're just gonna let you do it just turn to make a friend god bless you you

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 30,254

Rating: 4.867435 out of 5

Keywords: Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: NMmckRE6OJE

Length: 50min 13sec (3013 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 07 2012